Bottled Up
by Elles Green
Summary: Spain's having a party, but where did Romano go?


A/N: I'm going to try to keep them in character, but if I slip up, I'm only human, you can tell me. It's also a bit fluffy here and there so consider yourself warned.

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><p>Spain had looked all over the house. Everything for the party was set up, and the guests would be here shortly. But something was missing, where was Romano?<p>

He looked in the kitchen and the garden, he wasn't there. He looked in the foyer and the living room, he wasn't there either. Where had he gone?

Finally he found him, in the upstairs hallway looking out a window.

"Romano? There you are! What are you doing up here?"

Romano was silent for a while. "Nothing…"

"Hey, come downstairs. They'll be here soon. You didn't forget did you?

"No…I didn't…"

"Come on then!"

"…I don't want to."

"What? Why not? You can't just stay up here by yourself for the whole party!"

Romano rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah? Watch me."

"The party will be fun;-you look so sad and alone up here."

Spain walked over to where Romano was standing, but not before Romano turned his head away.

"I'm fine…it's nothing."

"People don't usually cry over nothing."

"I'm not crying! I'm not…"

But that was all he could get out before his shoulders started trembling. Spain sighed and put his arm around him.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to come down and see everyone? I know Italy would love to see you again."

"I don't want to see him!" Romano weakly protested as he unsuccessfully fought back a few tears.

"Why not?" Spain asked, surprised.

"It's just…"Romano sniffed. "It's always about him."

Spain tightened his hold slightly as he felt Romano's head rest on his shoulder.

"Everyone always talks about him…that he's so talented and charming and stuff…all the stuff that I'm not…"

At this point Romano had given up on holding back, so the tears were flowing freely down his face. He had been holding this in for quite a while.

"It's like they forget that I'm even there." he added finally before turning his face down onto Spain's shoulder.

"That's not true Romano…" Spain tried to reassure. He saw Romano tilt his head to look up at him, to see if he really meant what he said. But the look in his eyes showed that he was miserable and unconvinced.

"I don't forget that you're there." Spain smiled as he pulled him into a hug. A hug that at first Romano tensed up in, but then slowly relaxed. "There are a lot of things I like about you. You try so hard to be strong and brave, but I know that there's a lot of things you go through that get in the way of that."

Romano wouldn't fully let himself relax though. He wanted to show that he was strong enough to be his own person, to make his own decisions. What did Spain know? He could do it. Even though…even though…it felt really nice to have Spain hold him. Not that he would ever say that out loud. He would look weak if he did that!

"Hey, look at me." Spain said at last. Slowly Romano met his eyes. "You'll get there." He whispered gently as he placed a soft kiss on Romano's forehead.

Romano's face looked adorably self-conscious. So tear stained and pink, it was almost funny.

"People will be here any minute, won't you come downstairs?"

Romano looked down in embarrassment, and then closed his eyes and nodded. "OK."

They stayed like that for a short while until Romano pulled away.

"Um…this never happened." He tried to explain as he rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. "I mean, I don't want you to…go around telling everyone that…that I was…" But he was cut off when Spain placed a finger on his lips and smiled.

Just then the doorbell rang. "Oh! There're here! Come on Romano, let's let them in."

Spain had already made it to the door and had answered it while Romano was still heading down the stairs.

"Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. I was upstairs talking to Romano and…"

_Stupid Spain!_ Romano thought angrily_. He said he wouldn't say anything!_

"…I didn't hear you."

"Oh, it's alright."

"So, did you have trouble finding the place?"

_Wait, that's it? He's not gonna…_

"Well come in! I swear you just missed the cutest thing!" Spain beamed as he escorted some of his guests into the living room. "Like I said, I was talking with Romano, and he just…"

_SPAIN! YOU-…!_ Romano was mad. So mad that he wanted to charge into that living room and drag Spain out by his ear. But is awkwardness got the better of him and he ended up just standing outside the door, too embarrassed to go in.

"Aw, that's so sweet." He heard a female voice say.

He peeked into the room, to see that the voice belonged to none other than Belgium, his childhood crush. What was she doing here? This was just too much to bear!

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><p>Later that night when the party was over, Romano decided to confront Spain about earlier.<p>

"How could you do that? You said that you wouldn't tell anyone!" Romano shouted angrily.

"Well technically I never said that."

"Yeah, but…still! Why did you do that?"

"You said you were tired of not being mentioned."

"I am, but that's not what I meant!"

"Romano, wait!" But Romano had already stormed off.

This time Spain found him in the garden, sitting on a bench looking at his feet.

"Romano?" Spain said as he came to a stop in front him.

Romano didn't look at him.

"I'm sorry about what happened."

Romano still didn't look at him.

"But I do have some good news." Spain offered as he knelt down so they were at the same level.

Romano turned his head and looked away defiantly.

"Near the end of the party Italy and I started talking about you, and do you know what he said?"

Romano clenched his eyes shut almost painfully, this wasn't helping at all.

"He said 'That was a brave thing he did'."

Spain got up and sat next to Romano on the bench, who had gone back to staring at his feet, only this time, with surprise.

"Did he…really say that?" he asked softly.

Spain nodded.

"He isn't mad?"

"What? No! He was surprised just like the rest of us. Usually you bottle everything up, - that's not good for you by the way."

"I know…but…"

"Romano, listen, it's ok to talk about what's bothering you. It shows that you're strong enough…when you try to stuff all those feelings down, that's what makes you look weak."

For a moment he didn't know what to say. Here Spain was telling him that everything he'd been doing so far had made him seem like a coward. It was so backwards. Tough guys didn't talk about problems, tough guys didn't cry, and now that wasn't considered weak but instead strong? How did that make any sense?

"One day things will change, even if you are incredibly bullheaded." Spain put his hand on Romano's head and ruffled his hair.

Romano finally turned to look at Spain who was about to get up to go back inside.

"Spain?"

"Yeah?"

"…Thanks." Romano said shyly. Then without any warning, he closed the distance between them and kissed Spain's cheek.

"Um…that didn't happen either." He said, embarrassed, as he turned and quickly walked back into the house.

Spain rubbed his cheek and smiled. One day things would change for Romano.

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><p>Inspiration for this came from memories from when I was younger and trying to bottle up my emotions to appear "tough" (write what you know). I also took into account Romano's feelings of inferiority towards his brother, and the social expectation that men are not as emotionally open as women (usually). I was just sick of stories that demonized Romano so I wrote this. Spain...well...is Spain. That's at least what I was aiming for.<p>

Ok and this has nothing to do with anything, but if you really want to make Romano mad, tell him that there's a type of cheese named after him! ^.^


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